1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an antenna unit of a portable terminal, and more particularly to an antenna unit using a helical hinge spring installed on the hinge module.
2. Description of the Related Art
Usually, a portable terminal refers to a portable unit for communicating with a counterpart via wireless communication with a base station. These portable terminals are divided into several types, e.g., bar-type terminals, flip-type terminals, folder-type terminals, flip up-type terminals, and folder-type terminals for being also used as a PDA, according to their shape. Further, the portable telephone terminals may be divided into telephone terminals for voice communication, telephone terminals for picture communication, telephone terminals for Internet communication, telephone terminals for Internet gaming, and telephone terminals for chatting, according to their function. Moreover, the portable telephone terminals may be divided into necklace types, wristlet types, and pocket-sized types, according to their wearing locations.
Each of the aforementioned individual portable terminals essentially comprises an antenna unit, a data input/output unit, and a data transmitting/receiving unit to facilitate communication with the counterpart. As the usually used data input unit, a keypad or a touch sensitive panel is employed. The keypad comprises an array of a plurality of keys for inputting data by a pressing action. The touch sensitive panel serves to input data by a touching action. Further, a display such as a LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) module is also commonly used as the data output unit. A microphone unit is used as the data transmitting unit and a speaker unit is used as the data receiving unit.
Portable terminals having multiple functionality and that are suitable for various multi-media environments are being spotlighted and popularized.
In order to transmit/receive radio waves, conventional portable terminals essentially comprises an antenna, a power-feeding portion, and an RF (Radio Frequency) unit. The conventional antennas of the portable terminal are divided into two types, i.e., an internal type and an external type. The internal type antenna is installed within a main housing of the portable terminal. The external type antenna protrudes from the main housing of the portable terminal and is exposed to the outside. As the conventional antenna, a helical antenna or a whip antenna is usually employed. Herein, the helical antenna serves as a main antenna and the whip antenna serves as an auxiliary antenna.
However, in case of using an internal type antenna installed on a designated area of a printed circuit board within the main housing of the portable terminal, the portable terminal requires an internal space for accommodating the internal type antenna, making it difficult to effectively utilize the limited space available within the main body of the portable terminal. That is, the portable terminal using the internal antenna has a drawback of increasing the size of the printed circuit board.
On the other hand, the external type antenna protrudes from the main body of the portable terminal, thereby limiting the external design of the portable terminal. Further, when the portable terminal falls to the ground due to the user's carelessness, the external type antenna is easily broken. Since the external antenna of the portable telephone terminal protrudes from the main body housing, this protruded external antenna of the portable terminal is easily damaged.